Abusivam Princeps
by Convenient Alias
Summary: After the Yeerks are defeated, Jake is brought to trial for his actions during war. Ax ponders his decision in following a prince who was not always just. How much blame belongs to the leader and how much to the follower?


Before Ax became an aristh, he was taught loyalty and obedience to his commanders. Obedience to the point of death in battle, to the point of torture. But above all, honor.

Disobedience was not always condemned. Sometimes it was encouraged.

(We are a proud race,) the instructor had said during his aristh training. (In some ways this is our greatest strength. But we wield great power on the battlefield. Sometimes our pride and authority gets the better of us.)

Ax had agreed. Everyone had heard of the warriors who went on hopeless missions, taking all their men down with them and achieving little. And of the warriors who considered the Andalite race so superior to other races that they would sacrifice or even slaughter members of other races without a moment's thought.

That, he knew, would never be him.

(Our leaders are especially vulnerable to this vice,) the instructor had said. (They forget to respect others and see their teammates as tools, their enemies as trees to be cut down. My students, if a command from an officer makes you uncomfortable or seems morally wrong, think before you act. It is better to be disobedient than to become an obedient monster.)

And Ax had known then that he would be strong enough always to follow these instructions. No commander would ever force him to obey a command that was wrong. He would stay strong, a moral beacon, no matter what.

At Prince Jake's trial, he remembered his instructor, and he thought how ironic it was. Marco would have laughed, if he had heard. And Cassie would have cried.

/…/…/

Ax had thought he was safe with Prince Jake.

Jake was not an Andalite. He was a human, and a young one at that, though charismatic. He never seemed to talk down to anyone on the team. He even tried to talk Ax out of calling him Prince (though not very successfully). Surely a boy like this would not fall prey to hubris. Even the opposite vice of insecurity would be more likely.

Ax held this opinion for a long time. He held it when Jakes sent him into battle after battle with no backup except the humans in morphed form, no protection except his own skill. He was not a tool-his comrades and Jake himself took the same risks he did.

He held the same opinion when he cut down Controller after Controller. He did notice that Prince Jake tried to limit human casualties, but that was sentimentality. And it was natural to cut down the Yeerks controlling Hork Bajir and Taxxon. They were fighting for their lives. And Jake was fighting for his people.

It was not for a long time that Ax realized what a dangerous conviction it was to have, fighting for your people. And the meager force Jake controlled only made it worse. In Prince Jake's eyes, he was the underdog. Nothing he did could therefore be considered cruel or unjust. He was eternally justified.

Still, Ax clung to his view of Jake as a humble man, an innocent, sympathetic leader. A good man.

He clung to it until he found himself brutally interrogating a human Controller kidnapped as a distraction.

It wasn't that Ax disrespected interrogators, in general. They played a role in the war and it was an important role. But usually interrogation had some amount of formality, of honor. It was a battle for information. The interrogated and the interrogator even had a certain amount of honor between them, even if one of them was a filthy Yeerk.

But Ax knew they didn't even want the information. All they wanted was to fool the man into thinking there was a point in his presence apart from being a distraction, so that later on, when he reported to the Yeerks, it would seem that there had been a cohesive plan. And the only reason it was he who had to do it was that they needed to look like they were all Andalites.

And so Ax used his proud Andalite heritage to intimidate and come close to torturing a human Controller who was completely helpless.

He came out feeling monstrous. Yeerks did not see any honor in Andalites. Nor had Ax behaved with honor, that day.

He came out feeling used.

(Never ask me to do that again,) he told Prince Jake. And he thought about setting up limits and boundaries, drawing a line and keeping from crossing it. He was a good Andalite. Even if he was only an aristh.

And Prince Jake agreed all too willingly. Ax had thought that a good sign, a sign of empathy and scruples. But Jake's eyes were cold.

/…/…/

Ax talked to his prince before the trial. Jake sent him a message to come down to his cell in the Andalite base so that they could talk in private. And it was in private—Jake's lawyers said it was a trial consultation and therefore, none of what occurred in the room could be recorded. Ax didn't know how legitimate that was. But no one wanted to deny Jake privacy. Even if he was on trial, most Andalites still considered him a hero.

(There is no way they will convict you,) he told Jake. (You are a hero. You saved Earth and defeated the Yeerk menace for good. No Andalite, no sentient being could sentence you.)

Even to himself that sounded weak.

"I'm a war criminal, Ax," Jake said. He did not look well. Confinement and guilt had brought a haggard look upon him that was wrong on that face. No, that face was meant for reassuring smiles, even when they were manipulative, and absolute certainty to the point of obsession. Self doubt did not belong on it. Yet there it was.

"If this court is as just as it should be, it should sentence me as easily as the Visser."

Ax shook his head. A human gesture, but he had become used to human company, human movements. And how could he speak to Jake except in the manner of Jake's people? (You did what you thought was right.) Even if it had involved massacring thousands, hundreds of thousands of Yeerks. Genocide, but it had been necessary.

"What I thought was right." Jake shook his head right back. "It was not always right. You know that as well as anyone, Ax. You almost stopped me from pulling that switch, releasing the Yeerks into space." He stared down at his hands.

(I obeyed every one of your orders. If you are guilty, so am I.) More so than the humans, perhaps, who had never been trained to keep an eye on their moral compass.

"The court only needs one scapegoat," Jake said. "Just to show that not only Yeerk actions have repercussions. And I did the most. Not you. You'll be fine, Ax. Go live your life, reunite with your family. The war is over."

What a surreal statement.

Why couldn't they just let Jake live his life too? He had his parents still, though his brother was dead (not a war crime, but no doubt responsible for much of the guilt in Jake's eyes). And he had nothing left to hide. The end of the war was supposed to be a relief for all of them, and their prince most of all.

(If they sentence you, we won't let it stand,) Ax said. (We'll come for you. Andalite prisons have only as much security as many Yeerk ships we have attacked. We'll morph to flies or fleas for stealth. We'll maul the guards as wolves. We'll come for you.)

Jake laughed. "Who is 'we'?"

Ax was confused.

"Rachel is dead. Tobias hates me for getting her killed. Cassie is trying to find peace, and this would make her live on the run. Marco knows how to take a loss," Jake said. "It's only you now, Ax. And you can't do this. Just let it go."

/…/…/

Sometimes Ax used to talk to Tobias about Prince Jake.

Well, the two of them talked about a lot of things. They covered much of Andalite and human culture and perhaps some culture from the Hork-Bajir and Yeerks and even Taxxons as well. At some point they had discussed the questionable sentience of Gedds, at some point whether humanity's greatest accomplishment was chocolate or the cinnamon bun.

But when it came down to it, what they discussed the most was the others.

Tobias liked to talk about Rachel. He had a thousand epithets for her that ranged from sickeningly sweet to questionable to horrific. He made even the horrific ones sound a bit fond. Ax liked to listen to him. Alien love—who could have known he would become so attached to it?

They talked less about Marco and Cassie. Marco was intriguing, of course, but Ax didn't spend all that much time with him and Tobias had no particular attachment. Cassie was an angel and that was all there was to be said about her. And if she wasn't, she was still the closest thing they had to good. They held on.

They talked about Jake until they were sick of it. And yet somehow ended up talked about him again.

(He uses us all,) Tobias said once, darkly. (I don't know why the others are so okay with it.)

(He's our prince,) Ax said. (He has to see the bigger picture and put our goals above our wellbeing. That is what princes do.)

Tobias laughed. Even in thought speak, his laugh was a hawk's laugh, sharp and humorless. (At least he still denies being a prince. When he stops, then I think he'll really be gone. Already he's changed. I used to admire him at school. He's grown colder. And he sees us as tools.)

Ax had still disagreed. (He does what he must.) He had already forgotten what his teacher had said, forgotten to fear those who saw their teammates as tools. After all, Jake was good. No one could call him the kind of monster he had been warned about.

(I think he still sees Marco as a friend,) Tobias said. (That's something. And of course he has trouble being objective about Cassie. No one could see Cassie as a tool.)

(He thinks of her like you think of Rachel.)

(Maybe. I think he worships her, though. I see Rachel more clearly than that,) Tobias said. (Well, at least she helps him keep an eye on his morality. I don't think any of the rest of us could do that.)

No. Ax's morality was shaky itself. He had always had others to make decisions for him. At the time, he did not see that. But had he been Prince Jake, he might not have done any better in the end.

(But you and I? He barely knew us to begin with,)Tobias said. (I think if he had to decide we'd be the first to go.)

(No one should have to make such a decision. And it could just as easily be us as Jake.)

(No. Jake's our prince, through and through. You got that right, no matter how much he objects,) Tobias said. (At least Rachel is his cousin. He'll take care of her.)

Later, when Rachel was dead and the Andalites took Jake in for trial, Ax saw Tobias sitting in a tree, silent even in his mind. He did not respond to Ax when Ax tried to talk to him, and he flew away as soon as Jake was mentioned.

Ax didn't blame him.

/…/…/

The trial was barely even a trial.

Ax had attended the trial for Visser Three. Or Esplin 9466, as he had been called there. Better to call him that than by his rank perhaps, but hard to get used to the idea. Even Jake was still a prince in Ax's head.

The trial for Esplin had been a set up from the beginning. There had never been a possibility that Esplin would get less than a full life sentence. His defense had been a joke, though no one had laughed, too incensed at his actions. And the fact that the jury had required a few hours to commune had been even more ridiculous. As if the higher ups hadn't already decided his punishment and already arranged accommodations for his imprisonment.

Ax had hoped that Prince Jake's trial would be fairer. After all, Jake was no criminal. He had been part of a guerrilla force for defense, not a cruel invading general. And when all of it had begun he had only been a teenager. He was still only a teenager now.

But as soon as the trial began it was obvious that its outcome was as set as that of the first.

Chapman's testimony. Esplin's testimony. Yeerk after Yeerk spoke of the horrifying acts of the "Andalite bandits" that all now knew were not Andalites.

Closer to home, Marco was called up. His face was blank. He summarized the activities of the Animorphs very well. Very efficiently.

"And Prince Jake Berenson made all the decisions for your group?"

Marco stared straight ahead. Ax knew he had been the one to come up with some of their most cynical plans. And the one to protest Jake's plans the most, claiming he didn't want to be killed, pointing out how crazy they all were. They had all had a voice. Practically a democracy. Except, of course, that they always went with Jake's plans in the end, no matter how much they discussed things ahead of time.

"Yes."

Cassie was also called up. She was briefer. Some of the things she said could have been taken as supporting Jake. She mentioned her own questionable actions.

"Aristh Cassie, you are not the one on trial. You followed your leader's example."

"Jake is an equal to me. Not my superior."

"But you didn't make the plans. You didn't tell people when to morph, when to kill, when to torture. Did you?" The lawyer was harsh.

"No. I'm not good at plans." She bit her lip. They didn't keep her up there long after that.

Tobias wasn't called up. No one had been able to find him to testify. Ax himself had barely seen him since Rachel died.

Ax was called up, though.

"Aristh Aximili Esgarroth Isthil, give us a summary of your missions under Prince Jake."

It took a long time. But sometimes the lawyers would interrupt. Defense and prosecution both. This or that story wasn't necessary. And they made him keep to the facts. So he did. He was an Andalite with training. He knew what he was expected to report.

"Did Prince Jake ever give you orders that made you feel uncomfortable?"

No. No. He had to say no.

(Yes.)

"Please explain when."

He couldn't look up at Jake's face as he spoke, describing the torture, describing how he watched Yeerks get pulled into the vacuum of space. Among other things.

(Jake was not really my prince,) he hurried to say. (I was not obligated to follow his orders.)

No one paid attention to that. It was pointless to argue that the Animorphs weren't an official unit, that none of them (except Ax, and it was all Ax's fault in the end, really) had any official training. They won, didn't they?

The defense did argue to the best of their ability Jake's age, his need to defend himself and his planet.

"Defense is not an excuse for everything."

But they went easy on Jake. They didn't give him the death penalty. Just life imprisonment. On an Andalite prison barge, of course, apart from all humans. Human prisons would be easily escaped by someone with morph capability.

It was the same punishment they had given Esplin.

/…/…/

Jake got annoyed at how often Ax visited him, when it had been a year or so. "What, do you spend all your time off here? Come on, Ax. Go live a little. There's no point in you keeping on visiting this prison ship. I don't need it, you know. I'm fine."

Ax knew it was a lie. Jake had grown pale and thin. He simultaneously had no company and too much. Fellow prisoners talked to him, guards—most of whom had the greatest respect for the boy they still considered a hero—visited him constantly. Paparazzi still tried to get interviews whenever they could get through security. Famous Andalite leaders would come by to pay their respects.

But Cassie and Marco? They stayed down on Earth. And Ax still thought Jake was lonely.

(Can't I come see you sometimes?)

"You don't need to feel sorry for me. I'm fine. It's better than I ever expected, really. I never thought I'd live to see the inside of an Andalite ship at all. Unless the Yeerks won and I was a host." He smiled. The same old reassuring smile he had given before missions, even though things still weren't okay. "I don't need you to visit me, Ax. I'll be fine."

(Maybe I won't be.)

"What's that supposed to mean?"

(Marco and Cassie don't want me around anymore. I'm too much of a reminder for them. Tobias won't come down from the sky long enough to talk.) Ax sighed. (And no one else knows. What we did. What we went through. Not even the soldiers really get it. I need someone, Jake. I need my prince.)

Jake laughed. "You said at the trial I was not your prince."

(I was lying.)

"Perjury, you know."

(I've done worse for you.)

"I'm sorry."

Ax shrugged. He was becoming very human lately. Human nature still stuck to him, even though he hadn't been so surrounded by humans as of late. (I made my own choices. But if you will carry all the blame, you are forgiven.)

Jake smiled, real now, even though he still looked tired. "Thank you, Ax. You don't have to stop coming if you don't want to."

(I don't.)

He would follow his prince. Even when it was foolish. Even when there were no orders left to follow.

For now, he was just glad he would not be ordered to stay away.

/.../.../

AN: Thanks to arioso dolente, my amazing beta reader.

This story's been brewing for a while. I've always thought one of the most interesting parts of the Animorphs series is how each character struggles with the morality of their actions, especially poor Jake (who I hope doesn't seem too OOC here). I'm glad it's finally edited and up. Please do review-I love to hear what you guys think!


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